Tucson AZ (SPX) May 24, 2019 Wind has shaped the face of Mars for millennia, but its exact role in piling up sand dunes, carving out rocky escarpments or filling impact craters has eluded scientists until now. In the most detailed analysis of how sands move around on Mars, a team of planetary scientists led by Matthew Chojnacki at the University of Arizona Lunar and Planetary Lab set out to uncover the conditions that

Paris, France (SPX) May 24, 2019 Where did the Earth's water come from? Although comets, with their icy nuclei, seem like ideal candidates, analyses have so far shown that their water differs from that in our oceans. Now, however, an international team, bringing together CNRS researchers and the Paris Observatory has found that one family of comets, the hyperactive comets, contains water similar to terrestrial water. Acco

Birmingham UK (SPX) May 24, 2019 Chemical traces in the atmospheres of stars are being used to uncover new information about a galaxy, known as the Gaia Sausage, which was involved in a major collision with the Milky Way billions of years ago. Astrophysicists at the University of Birmingham in collaboration with colleagues at European institutions in Aarhus, Bologna and Trieste, have been studying evidence of the chemical

Pittsburgh, PA (SPX) May 22, 2019 Astrobotic has been selected by Toronto-based Canadensys Aerospace to fly a lunar science and technology payload that promotes Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) on Astrobotic's first mission to the Moon in 2021. The payload will be the first in a series of payloads, which Canadensys intends to fly on multiple Peregrine lunar lander missions in the future. Details on the pay

Moffett Field CA (SPX) May 24, 2019 The mystery of why Earth has so much water, allowing our "blue marble" to support an astounding array of life, is clearer with new research into comets. Comets are like snowballs of rock, dust, ice, and other frozen chemicals that vaporize as they get closer to the Sun, producing the tails seen in images. A new study reveals that the water in many comets may share a common origin with Eart

A top NASA executive hired in April to guide strategy for returning astronauts to the moon by 2024 has resigned, the space agency said on Thursday, the culmination of internal strife and dwindling congressional support for the lunar initiative. Mark Sirangelo, named six weeks ago as special assistant to NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, left the agency as NASA abandoned a reorganisation plan due to a chilly reception on Capitol Hill, Bridenstine said in a statement.

For many years a hidden planet was thought to exist between Mercury and the Sun. Consigned to history by the calculations of Albert Einstein and the observations of two British astronomers on a rainy African island, this is the story of the planet Vulcan and its happy ending.